A progressive think tank. Seventeenth in a series.

Thousands of home-based health care providers have been forced into a union because they receive assistance from the state while they take care of loved ones who are disabled. The Service Employees International Union receives close to $6 million annually in forced dues from this abusive arrangement.

House Bill 4003 would end this injustice by clarifying that Michiganders who care for relatives in their own homes are not government employees, and hence are not appropriate targets for government unions. That bill has passed the House but is stuck in the Senate. While we wait for the Senate to act, the SEIU continues to siphon money that was meant to help families.

Here's another example of where that money might be going, drawn from the SEIU's 2010 LM-2 report:

Stay Engaged

Receive our weekly emails!

email address

The Economic Opportunity Institute is a progressive state-based think tank in Seattle. In 2010 it received $125,000 from SEIU, funds that according to the union were used for organizing.

EOI's rhetoric is fairly mild, but its policy positions are consistently in favor of an expanded role for government in the economy. Among the things that EOI considers successes are the nation's highest minimum wage (with a regular cost of living adjustment) and a family leave insurance program that provides workers in Washington with up to five weeks of paid family leave as well as paid sick leave. EOI also touts the unionization of day care providers, a scheme that was tried in Michigan and eventually revoked by executive order. A recent article by the Institute's executive director, John Burbank, calls for the state of Washington to "tax the rich," especially "the 1 percent."

The Economic Opportunity Institute is one of many groups with a clear political agenda that Michiganders are supporting with funds that were meant to go the families and friends of persons with disabilities.

Permission to reprint this blog post in whole or in part is hereby granted,
provided that the author (or authors) and the Mackinac Center for Public Policy are properly
cited. Permission to reprint any comments below is granted only for those comments written by
Mackinac Center policy staff.